My morning studies now involve just reading the words of Jesus. I’ve been deep in Paul for a few years and felt like it was time to visit the source.
I’ve often taught over the years about how Jesus upset the philosophy, should I say spirit, of Rome. The prevailing spirit of the time was power. He who has power, wins. Even the Pharisees played along. They just defined power as following the Law better than others did. This gave them the feeling of religious power.
Jesus upset the whole thing.
Matthew records that Jesus began his ministry proclaiming repentance–turning your life around.
Then he proceeds in his compilation of teachings to what we call the Beatitudes. And who are the blessed of God?
- simple people
- merciful people
- peacemakers
- humble, meek people
- those who mourn
- those who are persecuted
- Those who hunger for righteousness
None of these would be Pharisees. Even today, in most churches we do not consider these people in our midst blessed–holy ones.
When we sit in our chair in the morning for study and prayer, maybe we need to check our attitude. When we go forth to serve, maybe we should check our attitude.
The powerful and super-confident may seem to win for a while. In the end, they don’t.
Tags: actions, awareness, Discipline, Faith, maturity, mission, service
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